South Ribble district

This summary offers a snapshot of some of the most important economic, social and environmental factors in South Ribble district with links through to the source information. The information has been allocated to one of seven themes:

South Ribble is an authority in Central Lancashire that covers 113 square kilometres, has 23 wards following a recent boundary review, while there is still a NOMIS profile for the 27 wards which were in existence at the time of the 2011 Census, and the number of people per km² is more than twice the England and Wales average. From an historic point of view there have been dramatic changes and the pace of future change is liable to increase.

Children and Young People

Each of the 12 district authorities in the county council area has a Local Children's Trust Partnership. The trusts have identified district priorities, and the 'what's happening in your area' section links to detailed outcomes for children and young people reports (CYP profiles) for each authority. There is also a performance dashboard for South Ribble, with a wide range of indicators covering the themes of feeling safe, doing well, being happy and being healthy.

Health outcomes for children and young people in South Ribble are generally good. Although subject to variation infant mortality rates and low birthweights generally near to or better than the national average.

Key stage 4 covers the two years of school education that incorporates GCSEs in maintained schools. A new secondary school GCSE accountability system was implemented in 2016, in which 'Attainment 8' measures achievement in maths and English plus other subjects with less weighting. The average score was 48.4 in South Ribble district for 2017/18. This was ahead of the average for the Lancashire County Council area of 46.7.

The county council's Young People's Service website has an activity and organisations search facility that lists a wide range of options for young people in each 12 districts within the county council area.

The overall population in the authority has grown steadily over the years and the 2017 figure of 110,400 represents a small rise in comparison to the previous year.

Local authority live births and deaths graphs are available that track changes in births and deaths since the 1980s for each authority in Lancashire. The graph for South Ribble shows that the number of live-births has consistently exceeded deaths over the long-term, although only by 13 in the year 2000.

A mosaic profile of local households classifies Lancashire residents by 15 main groups. Aspiring homemakers and suburban stability are two of the dominant groups in South Ribble.

It is estimated that between 2014 and 2039 the population of South Ribble will increase by a modest 3.2%. This is below the expected figures for the Lancashire-14 area (4.4%) and England (16.5%). The projected growth of households in the authority is 8.7% between 2014 and 2039 (England = 23.1%).

A total of 10.5% of South Ribble households were in fuel poverty in 2016, which was some way below the England average of 11.1%. The main factors that determine this are the energy efficiency status of the property, the cost of energy, and household income.

The 2015 Indices of Deprivation revealed South Ribble was the 234th most deprived area out of 326 districts and unitary authorities in England, when measured by the rank of average rank.

Economic Development

In line with the national and county trends, employee numbers in South Ribble increased in the decade to 2008, and between 2009 and 2016 the district recorded a substantial 13.7% increase in its employment number.

Our extensive employment records allow us to monitor the changes to employee numbers from 1929 onwards. We have published separate graphs for each of the 14 Lancashire local authorities that reveal changes in total employee numbers and the shift from manufacturing to service sector employment. Methodological changes, and assumptions for missing years, reduce the accuracy of the graphs, but they do give a useful broad indication of changes over time. The graph for South Ribble is displayed below and tracks the long-term employment growth in the authority.

The establishment of the former Central Lancashire New Town Development Corporation, and its development of areas such as the extensive Walton Summit Industrial Estate, was a major impetus to the local economy. The development corporation was very active during the 1970s and 1980s in the Preston, Chorley and South Ribble area. After its demise, the remaining parcels of un-developed land that were bought by the corporation eventually became the responsibility of the Homes and Communities Agency. These land assets have now been used to underpin the Preston, South Ribble and Lancashire City Deal, that looks to generate thousands of new jobs and lead to the construction of a very substantial number of new homes.

In October 2011, the government announced the creation of a single Lancashire enterprise zone that covers the two BAe sites in Lancashire at Samlesbury and Warton. The Samlesbury site bisects the boundary between Ribble Valley and South Ribble. Enterprise zones are areas where financial incentives and a simplified planning structure are designed to encourage businesses and create employment.

Average house prices are above average for Lancashire. The yearly ratio of median house price to median earnings reveals a rate for the authority that is a little under the England average. House prices at the small area level highlight lower average prices in the central part of the authority and higher ones in the west. The rate of mortgage possession orders (see the residential property article) per 1,000 households is relatively low and changed very little in the last year.

The area benefits from net commuter flows, with average earnings in South Ribble being noticeably higher when measured by place of residence in comparison to place of work.

The survey of personal incomes by HM Revenue and customs broadly includes all individuals whose income is higher than the prevailing personal tax allowance and who are therefore liable to tax. The median results are the middle value that best reflects typical income and they show a result for South Ribble that is well above the Lancashire-12 and North West averages.

The 2011 census figures (table WU03EW) reveal the commuter flows between local authorities. The largest flow between a Lancashire authority and a neighbouring authority occurred between South Ribble and Preston. A substantial 13,492 South Ribble residents commuted to work in Preston district. The authority had a low percentage of people aged 16+ (39.1%) who lived and worked in the authority.

The recorded crime article reveals that South Ribble has a crime rate well below average for the Lancashire-14 area.

For more details on community safety in your neighbourhood, please enter your postcode into Safer Lancashire.

Alcohol is known to contribute to offending behaviour, particularly violence, anti-social behaviour and criminal damage. Residents in the authority are significantly worse for alcohol-specific mortality in the three year period 2014-16 than the national average, according to the LAPE (Local Alcohol Profiles for England).

Transport has a key role to play in realising the economic potential of an area by unlocking key locations, such as the existing and new locations referred to in the economy section. Using sustainable transport modes can significantly improve employment opportunities and life chances. In urban areas the reliance on the car presents problems of traffic congestion and reduced air quality. Parts of Leyland have the worst air quality in the county.

South Ribble has good motorway links, with the M6, M65 and M61. The Department for Transport website has an interactive map that lists the traffic flows at hundreds of sites across all of the Lancashire County Council area.

Maps are available that reveal the various rural-urban definitions across Lancashire down to the very small census output area level.

The National Biodiversity Network Gateway acts as a “data warehouse” for biodiversity information, which can be quickly and easily accessed to understand the distribution of particular species in the UK. Much of the local data is supplied by the Lancashire Environment Record Network (LERN), which is hosted by Lancashire County Council. An interactive map on this site shows the extent of the Environmental Record Centre coverage, including the LERN area, and when adding a species using the 'Add to Map' control, records of their sightings are displayed.

Green belts have been an enduring element of national planning policy. They check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas; prevent neighbouring towns from merging into one another; assist in safeguarding the countryside, preserve the character of historic towns and encourage the recycling of derelict and other urban land. South Ribble has a very high proportion of land designated as green belt, although this was reduced by 40 hectares in 2016.

Total carbon dioxide emissions in South Ribble when measured by tonnes per resident reveal a rate that is above the national average. Emissions of nitrogen oxides are the second greatest by weight in the county, while average particulate emissions by area are also second highest.

The rates of household waste sent for reuse, recycling or composting have in general been improving over the years as sharp increases in Landfill Tax have made the traditional form of Landfill disposal much more expensive. The household waste reuse, recycling and composting rate in South Ribble was a healthy 46.5% in 2017/18.

Lancashire County Council supports a various projects in district authorities via a range of grants and funding options. The county council's environment directorate produces district commissioning plans, and regularly updated district-level dashboards that comment on performance across a range of transport, environmental and other issues.

Figures for life expectancy at birth reveal that South Ribble had a male average that was above the national figure and a female average just above the England and Wales figure. The following graph reveals life expectancy changes in the authority, and for England and Wales, by three-year time periods from 1991-93 onwards.

The South Ribble Health Profile, published by Public Health England, reveals that the health of people is mostly similar to the England average and often better, but rarely worse.

The local government association has produced 'housing, health and wellbeing profiles' for each local authority across the country. The figures go down to the ward level, and the South Ribble profile has results from the census, the index of multiple deprivation and other data sources.

It has been well documented over recent years that people are living longer and that the older age-groups will record some dramatic increases over future years, with associated financial implications and demand for health and social care services. By 2039, the population aged 65 or over in South Ribble is projected to increase to 32,300.

The number State Pension caseload in the district is over 23,000. In comparison with a number of coastal areas in the county, there are few parts of the authority that are particularly popular with people of retirement age. Pension Credit is for pensioners at the lower end of the income scale and the caseload in the authority was around 2,400 in May 2018.

Attendance allowance provides financial help to people aged 65 or over who are physically or mentally disabled.

The personal incomes report has in Table 4, figures for pension incomes. The middle value (median) figure for South Ribble is in excess of the county average.

Life expectancy as mentioned earlier is increasing but there is no guarantee that the extra years of life will necessarily equate to extra years of healthy life expectancy. However, it is not a foregone conclusion that "extra" years of life expectancy should necessarily lead to additional years with ill health or disability. More suitable community services to enable independent living and more effective practice of preventive lifestyles and medicine has the potential to lengthen disability-free life expectancy, particularly in the case of the prevention and treatment of non-fatal but disabling diseases.

The Lancashire Care Homes Association is an organisation that represents care providers across the broader Lancashire area. The website lists a large number of care and nursing homes, along with domiciliary care agencies in the area. The details are listed by major urban localities across the county.